VANCOUVER - The visiting Calgary Dinos rebounded from a UBC-dominated first half to generate plenty of pressure and scoring chances in the second, but
Bea Francisco held firm in goal for the Thunderbirds on Saturday at Wright field to earn her second clean sheet of the year in a 3-0 UBC win.
A quick strike by
Robyn Pendleton gave UBC the lead less than two minutes in, setting the tone for the first 35 minutes to be dictated by UBC. The T-Birds controlled the flow of play early on in their home opener, doubling their lead midway through the half when Pendleton made a long run with the ball into the circle and fought off a Calgary defender with her back to the goal before spinning and firing a shot high inside the left post.
"The first half was good and I was hoping the second would be more of the same, but it wasn't so we have to figure out what went wrong," said UBC head coach Hash Kanjee. "I don't think Calgary changed anything, I just think we made life easy for them."
The Dinos had significantly more ball possession and pressure in the second half, leading to numerous chances in the circle and short corner opportunities to test Francisco.
Ten minutes into the half she made her first of many diving saves on a Dinos short corner to keep the score 2-0 UBC. She also closed down a short corner opportunity late in the match with a well-timed charge out of her net to knock the ball away before the Dinos could get a clean shot off.
She saved her best effort for last though, preserving the clean sheet with multiple diving and sprawling saves on the goaline to shut the door on the Dinos' final short corner chance as time expired amid frantic action around the UBC goal.
"I thought we played really well in the first half, but I have no idea what happened in the second," said Kanjee. "I have my gut instincts, and we will be addressing those, but we just made life very difficult for ourselves and if it hadn't been for Bea it could have quite easily been 2-1 or 2-2. She played very well today."
Shanlee Johnston added UBC's third goal late in the match, burying a rebound that the 'Birds were able to keep alive in the circle after
Poonam Sandhu's initial shot.
The win moves UBC into a three-way tie for first in Canada West at 2-1 along with Calgary and the Alberta Pandas. The 'Birds will get a chance to separate themselves from the Dinos on Sunday when they wrap up the weekend set at Wright Field. Game time is 1 p.m.
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